the Prime Minister made several ‘perfunctory’ calls to the unions over the weekend

Elisabeth Borne toured the unions this weekend. Within 48 hours, the Prime Minister telephoned the CFDT, Force Ouvrière and the CGT. “A Courtesy Call”of “pure form”, according to the unions opposed to the pension reform. “It’s important to keep in touch” said Monday February 13 on franceinfo Olivier Dussopt. And not to fracture the union front, defended the Minister of Labor.

Force Ouvrière was the first union called on Saturday morning to take the temperature. A few hours before the intersyndicale acts a hardening of the movement from March 7 for “bring France to a standstill”.

The last phone call was made to the CGT on Sunday evening. Between the two, an exchange with Laurent Berger of the CFDT who lamented on franceinfo Friday a “form of contempt” of the government towards the social movement. He also mentioned the lack of contact between the executive and the inter-union since the presentation of the reform project a month ago. It must be said that government communication for a week was mainly focused around the “parliamentary moment”. We heard several ministers say that it was no longer the time of the unions, but that of the deputies and senators.

The government is counting on a breathlessness of the movement

These cascading phone calls over the weekend were also made to demonstrate that the executive is still listening to what is happening in the street. Without seeing it as a sign of feverishness of the government after the mobilization of Saturday. This is reflected, among other things, in the absence of new proposals made to the trade union movement. On the merits once again, everyone stuck to their positions this weekend. Elisabeth Borne defended the concessions she believes she has already made on long careers or on the senior index. For their part, the unions called on her again to withdraw her reform.

The absence of feverishness on the side of the executive is explained. In the exchanges that the political service of franceinfo can have with ministers or advisers, we are told to count on a form of shortness of breath. We are surprised, for example, that a demonstration on the weekend, that of Saturday, did not attract more people than a demonstration during the week, when you have to declare yourself a striker and lose a day’s salary. The government’s strategy is to hold on until the end of the discussions in the Assembly at the end of the week. The text will automatically be sent to the Senate. “The Senate is the moment of reassurance”, confides a minister. Because the right and the center which are in the majority there are in favor of the reform. The debates will take place much more serenely. Hold on until this favorable vote by the Senate and bet on the fact that the most legitimist unions will come out of the dispute as soon as the vote takes place: this is the line to which the executive clings.